Tag: food

Now that we’re a week into 2018 and all of the typical New Year’s fanfare has died down, we think it’s time for fresh twist on the New Year’s Resolution. Why not kill two birds (not really) and make some commitments to your pet parenting and your personal health and wellness? Read on for great ideas for resolutions for you and your pet.

#1 Get Moving

We know, we know. It’s at the top of everyone’s resolution list. But isn’t it more appealing to exercise with your dog, rather than in a gym? Commit to upping your daily walk game – but don’t limit yourself to just walking. Throw in some intervals (walk or run faster for short periods) or some games of catch or even a set of push-ups. It’s good for you, it breaks up the monotony of the walk and your dog will love time spent with you.

#2 What’s Up Doc?

Chances are, you have health screenings or doctor’s appointments you should make in the New Year. The same is true for your pet. Yearly examinations by your veterinarian are so important to good preventive care. Vet visits are also the perfect time to ask for advice, talk about nutrition, supplements or get an expert opinion on any behavioral issues.

#3 Get Out There!

Daily walks are great, but consider going a little bigger. Try hiking, trail running, snow shoeing, kayaking or any other activity that gets you and your dog outside and moving! It’s a great way to bond and the physical activity and mental health benefits are great for both of you.

#4 Primp and Polish

No one wants a stinky pet. Regular grooming — bathing, nail clipping, brushing teeth and coat – will make your pet more pleasant to be around and (bonus!) it’s healthier for your pet. Plus, all that nurturing and daily grooming is a great bonding activity for you and your pet. But pay attention – any skin and coat problems that don’t resolve with regular grooming, please see your veterinarian.

#5 All Work and No Play…

…makes pet parents very dull. More play time is a fun and positive resolution for people and pets! It’s a great stress reliever for you and who doesn’t embrace unconditional love and attention? Cats love the thrill of chasing a laser toy or catnip toys and dogs are happy with most any game, like fetch, tug and pull, hide and seek. It all works!

Lastly, it’s a New Year so don’t forget to take a moment to be thankful for all you have, especially the beautiful and loving pets who enrich your life every day.

We want to thank everyone who participated in our Friends for Food promotion. Thanks to your involvement, we are going to donate over a ton of food to the Boulder Humane Society. 2,406 pounds to be exact! Our donation will occur over the course of the year and be primarily utilized as part of the Food Share Program developed by the Humane Society to help those that adopt pets gain access to natural pet food for their newly adopted friends. You can learn more about this program by visiting www.boulderhumane.org.

As part of this promotion, we also offered a $250 gift card prize to one lucky friend who Like us Facebook. We are happy to announce that Laura Boyajian is our winner! She will receive a gift card via email that which can redeemed at www.onlynaturalpet.com.

Congratulations and thank you all for being a part of this engaging and worthy cause!

Brooklyn is a one-year old Berner who spends his days in search for new friends! He starts the morning out early with a stroll around the block in hopes to finding one of his many neighborhood friends, and then it’s off to breakfast where he enjoys a delicious meal of raw, freeze-dried turkey and veggies – EasyRaw! Then it’s into the car and off to camp – he even brings one of his favorite toys, his beloved Kong. At camp he’s set free to play all day with his buddies, lounge in the sun and annoy his camp counselors!

Like this:

The Customer Care team at Only Natural Pet Store is a great and helpful resource for our customers.

Researching and purchasing products online is awesome, but what’s even more awesome is when you get a little stuck and you can email or call a real, live, human who is passionate about your concerns. Here is an example of a recent email exchange between an avid pet-owner and one our great customer care peeps. One of the many great reasons to consider Only Natural Pet Store for your pet care needs!

Question: Hi – I have 2 Corgis on Honest Kitchen “Preference” & ground beef. They’re fed once a day & once a week given turkey necks in place of their meals. Both are in great condition – one is used in herding competitions & both are always getting complemented by people saying “I thought Corgis were always fat & yours aren’t!” Anyway, I just wanted to know if I’m doing what I should be, if I should have them working on more raw bones (don’t want to have slab fractures in teeth) or anything different….

Thanks for your time – A Happy ONPS Customer

Reply: What you’re doing sounds great!! I also have a Corgi who has a waistline – how unusual! It’s a simple concept – just feed a whole food diet and your dog will look and feel great, and this is true for every dog, not just Corgis.

As far as what you are feeding, I recommend rotating proteins on occasion, and even rotating to other dehydrated foods.

My favorite dehydrated food is Sojos Europa Grain-Free Dog Food Mix. The 8 pound bag of Sojos lasts for six weeks at my house with one very large dog (110 lb White German Shepherd), and one small dog (22 lbs) eating it every day. I feed a 50/50 proportion of Sojos/protein most of the time, and will include yogurt, eggs, cottage cheese, beans or lentils, mackerel, and sardines as the protein, as well as other kinds of meat.

My Corgi eats mostly chicken meat with raw bones/poultry necks 2-3 x per week. Both my dogs eat eggs as their protein at least 4x per week (morning meals, mostly). My big dog eats a completely raw diet with a beef blend as his main protein source. I bring in, intermittently, things like Stella & Chewy’s Frozen Raw Food for Dogs (duck); ZiwiPeak Daily Dog Cuisine Dry Food (venison or lamb); or Complete Natural Nutrition Real Food Toppers (wild salmon). So, for example, once a month I would buy one of these products and include it in the meals of my two dogs and cat for a week or so at a time, or until the food runs out. Then we go back to their normal staple protein.

~GREENS are loaded with enzymes, and they make food they are added to more digestible and nutritious, and are very cleansing. Excellent for all dogs, and especially dogs that are healing or out of balance.

~DIGESTIVE ENZYMES make food much more bio-available and take the burden off the pancreas. In the wild, canines would eat raw enzyme-rich foods, never having to dedicate their own enzymes for digestion. Since our canines eat cooked and processed food, it’s only fair to replenish these important elements every single day:

Like this:

After our look last time at vegetarianism in pets, this time we’re going to the other extreme—the high-protein, low-carb, so-called “Catkins” diet (a little wordplay on the low-carb Atkins diet for people). This is a far more prevalent trend in pet diets, and one that I’m glad to see—with a few reservations!

Looking at wild carnivores, it’s clear that what they mostly eat is other animals. Large canids like wolves, and often coyotes, hunt in packs and can dine on big game animals like deer, elk, or moose, while foxes scale it down. All big cats but lions are solitary hunters, and their prey are also proportional in size, although even a domestic cat is quite capable of bringing home an adult rabbit.

The carnivore’s diet has a few things in common across the spectrum of possible prey, which represents a sort of “ideal” we should be shooting for in feeding our pets.

A rat, for instance, has about 55% protein, 38% fat, 9% carbohydrate, and 64% moisture (calculated on a dry matter basis). The “dry matter basis” is the only valid comparison of pet foods, particularly between dry and canned foods. The water is calculated out by subtracting the moisture percentage on the label from 100%, leaving total dry matter. Then you divide the ingredient of interest, for instance protein, by the total dry matter.

This sounds complicated, but if even a math moron like me can do it, you can too! (Hint: your cell phone probably has a built-in calculator!) It’s essential to master this concept in order to accurately compare pet foods. For example, a dry food containing 30% protein and 10% moisture contains 30/90 or 33% protein, while a canned food containing 10% protein and 78% water actually contains 45% protein. So even though the canned food label claims a lot less protein, it really contains much more than dry food.

Many canned foods, especially kitten and cat foods but also many dog foods, already fit our “high-protein” qualification and also contain 10% or less carbohydrates. (You can get a ballpark estimate of carbs by subtracting the other labeled ingredients, including moisture, protein, and fat, from 100%.)

There are quite a few “low-carb” or “grain-free” dry pet foods as well. Remember that “grain free” does not necessarily equal “low carb.” In most grain-free dry foods, cereal grains like corn and rice have been replaced by white potatoes, green peas, carrots, or other starchy vegetables, or by dairy products such as cottage cheese.

Now, there’s no doubt that grains are problematic for dogs and cats; corn-based dry foods in particular are much to blame for the current pet obesity epidemic. Getting away from grain-based foods is a great choice for many pets. It’s been proven many times over that the best and safest way to help a cat lose weight in by putting them on an all-wet, low-carb “Catkins” diet (which could be canned, raw, or homemade). Studies show that dogs lose fat and maintain lean muscle better on the same type of “Catkins” diet, but “Dogkins” just isn’t a very catchy title!

However, you still have to read labels and assess ingredients to make sure you’re getting just what you want in a pet food. Shoot for around 45% protein in a dry cat food, and at least 35% in a dry dog food (on a dry matter basis).

Be aware that high protein dry foods tend to be higher in fat as well, and should not be fed free choice (available 24/7). It is definitely best to feed these foods in timed meals, and make sure you do a gradual transition from the current diet (see previous posts on Switching Foods) to minimize tummy upset. Unlimited consumption of these foods will often result in weight gain, so don’t overfeed! Many of these foods now come in a “reduced calorie” formula, but it’s a lot easier to prevent weight gain in the first place!

High protein dry cat foods are also very dehydrating, and ideally should not be the sole diet. Do feed your cat at least 50% canned food for that important kidney-protecting moisture. While dogs will drink more to make up for the dehydrating effects of these diets, cats will not.

Several manufacturers have also come out with “100% meat” canned diets. Most (but not all) of them are not balanced with minerals and vitamins, and are intended for occasional use only—not as a sole diet for your pet. They are suitable as a basis for a homemade diet to which you add supplements such as Sojos.

Raw meat-based diets are usually high in protein and moisture, and low in carbs. Many cats and dogs do very well on these diets, but if you want to try raw food, make the switch slowly, and be very cautious if your pet has pre-existing medical conditions affecting the digestive tract and discuss it with your vet first.

When used correctly, low-carb diets work extremely well for weight loss in both dogs and cats. They help maintain healthy skin and coat, vibrant energy, and are far more appropriate for carnivores than mass-market pet foods that are loaded with corn and soy. There’s less yard and litterbox clean-up, too, because more of the food is digested and assimilated. At Only Natural Pet Store, we carry a wide variety of great-quality natural pet foods, but grain-free, low-carb and raw foods are among the most premier of products and will benefit your pet’s health in many ways!

Random

Statement of Use

The content of this blog is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended as an endorsement of any product. The information is not intended to be a substitute for visits to your local veterinarian. Instead, these blog posts offer the reader information and opinions written by pet owners and/or veterinarians concerning animal health and products that they have used.